Following the White House's "call to action" in 2016, many states sprang into action and attempted to reign in the use of non-compete agreements in their states to even the playing field between employers and employees.

Earlier this month, a group of 11 state attorneys general announced that they have asked eight fast-food franchises to provide a copy of their franchise agreements to determine whether such agreements contain no-poaching restrictions, which prohibit franchisees from hiring, i.e., "poaching," each other's workers.

Employment laws were not the focus of the 85th legislative session of the Texas Legislature; however, there were a few notable new laws – which will impact employers – that were passed during this session.

Employers can hire two types of workers – employees and independent contractors – and there are serious consequences to misclassifying workers as independent contractors when they are actually employees.

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